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After a meeting of four Naxal-affected states, the Centre on Tuesday said it was ready to hold talks with the Maoists if they "halt" violence.

"My appeal to all the Naxals on behalf of all the chief ministers who participated in the conference two days ago, on behalf of Naxal affected states, if you abjure violence that is if you say a halt to violence, we are not asking you to do anything more, if you halt the violence we are prepared to talk to you on any matter," Home Minister P. Chidambaram said.

He was talking to reporters after a meeting of chief minister of Naxal-affected states which was not attended by chief ministers of Bihar and Jharkhand Nitish Kumar and Shibu Soren respectively.

Kumar told reporters in Patna that he could not be away from Patna for long and today is the scheduled day for the state cabinet to meet. Soren, who had cited illness for not attending the meeting, had deputed his two deputy chief ministers.

Against the backdrop of reports that Kumar kept away at the instance of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Chidambaram sought to play down his absence.

He said Kumar had told him in Delhi on Sunday that he had some prior commitment and that he may not be able to attend the Kolkata meeting. "His senior officials are here. Either I can go to Patna or he can go to Delhi (to discuss Maoist issues). That is not an issue," Chidambaram said.

On the Naxal issue, the home minister said the "condition" is Maoist should "halt" violence.

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